jimmy and the bookies

i could see the shapes of baseball bats
on jimmys beaten back
and that crack on the skull
put him in the old mass general
but sometimes a man just has to make a play
so i sat by his bed to keep him company

and if the bookies werent trouble enough
jimmy had to drink a fifth of johnny every day
to keep his hands from jumping off his arms
so i used to bring him nips of booze
from the packy on cambridge street
you cant leave a man in bed with a thirst like that

jojo told him bet with your head not your heart
but jimmy couldnt lay off the boston teams
who badly sucked in an ongoing way
and all those guys who took his action
were friends from the neighborhood but he owed
so much they put the beatdown on him anyways

his liver shut down in 95
and that was all she wrote
i saw him in the box at his wake and 
they had covered up the yellow pretty good
not a bad comeback from that night
in the parking garage with the hungry bats